Friday, February 4, 1944. Operation Ha-Go.

The Japanese launched Operation Ha-Go in the Arakan, a major offensive against British forces in Burma.  As was typical for Japanese offensive operations, it featured a strict timetable.

Stemming from the same region, the Swiss passed on a protest from Thailand, stating:

The Swiss Minister (Bruggmann) to the Secretary of State

Th. 1 Thailand

The Minister of Switzerland presents his compliments to The Honorable, The Secretary of State, and has the honor to submit a communication from the Government of Thailand which has been received from the Federal Political Department in Berne, with the request that it be transmitted to the Government of the United States:

“In air raids about the end of 1943 and January 1944 Anglo-American aeroplanes dropped bombs on Chulalongkon Hospital, Saowapha, on the Pasteur Institute of the Red Cross Bangrak Hospital and two mental disease hospitals. Such humanitarian establishments cannot be said in any way to be military objectives and the indiscriminate bombing thereof is not only a violation of the Geneva Convention [Page 1322]of 192925 but also of the principles of humanity. His Majesty’s Government therefore enters a strong protest against the unjustifiable act of destruction above mentioned.”

The Minister would be grateful to The Honorable, The Secretary of State, for an acknowledgment of this communication.26

Washington , February 4, 1944.

All Japanese organized resistance on Kwajalein ceased.  Of 8,700 defenders, 265, many of them Korean laborers, survive.   The American forces sustained 370 KIA and 1,500 WIA.

Men of the 7th Infantry Division getting cigarettes.  Note the rifle, probably a M1903, with a grenade launcher attachment and that the men have bayonets fixed.  Note also that one of the men has a M3 fighting knife.

M3's on Kwajalein.

7th Infantry Division torching Japanese position with flamethrower, February 4, 1944.

The Germans attacked the British 1st Division at Anzio, forcing it to fall back.  The US 5th Army gained ground further south.

The Soviet 42nd Army took Gdov.  Hitler ordered the 24th panzer Division to assist in the relief of the Korsun Pocket.  Relieving forces are spearheaded by the Heavy Panzer Regiment Bake.

The U-854 struck a mine in the Baltic and sank.

President Roosevelt established the Bronze Star.

Executive Order 9419—Bronze Star Medal

February 04, 1944

By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States and as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, it is hereby ordered as follows:

There is hereby established the Bronze Star Medal, with accompanying ribbons and appurtenances, for award to any person who, while serving in any capacity in or with the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States on or after December 7, 1941, distinguishes, or has distinguished, himself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service, not involving participation in aerial flight, in connection with military or naval operations against an enemy of the United States.

The Bronze Star Medal and appurtenances thereto shall be of appropriate design approved by the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy, and may be awarded by the Secretary of War, or the Secretary of the Navy, or by such commanding officers of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard as the said Secretaries may respectively designate. Awards shall be made under such regulations as the said Secretaries shall severally prescribe, and such regulations shall, so far as practicable, be of uniform application.

No more than one Bronze Star Medal shall be awarded to any one person, but for each succeeding heroic or meritorious achievement or service justifying such an award a suitable device may be awarded to be worn with the medal as prescribed by appropriate regulations. The Bronze Star Medal or device may be awarded posthumously, and, when so awarded, may be presented to such representative of the deceased as may be designated in the award.

Signature of Franklin D. Roosevelt

FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELT

The White House,

February 4, 1944.

It's a surprise, really, to realize that Bronze Star was created this late, but like the Silver Star, it was created to reflect combat conditions that the US had not experienced since the Civil War.

Monday, January 31, 1944. Landings at Kwajalein.

The Battle of Kwajalein commenced with landings by the 4th Marine Division and the 7th Infantry Division under the command of Marine Corps General Holland "Howlin Mad" Smith, an acknowledged expert on amphibious warfare that some have called the "father of amphibious warfare".

Smith went to Auburn University, graduating in 1901, but his goal was to become an Army officer.  He was already a cavalry 1st Sergeant in the Alabama National Guard.  Nonetheless, following his undergraduate degree, he went to law school and obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree (JD's were not yet common) from the University of Alabama.  He thereafter practiced law in Montgomery, Alabama for a year.

Apparently he had second thoughts about that and determined to revive his interest in joining the Army.  He sought a commission, but none were available, so he instead obtained one from the Marine Corps, entering the Corps on March 20, 1905.  He'd later claim not to have known of the existence of the Marine Corps until the Army recruiter told them they were not accepting applicants, and referred him to the Marine recruiter down the block, although that's almost certain false.  The Marines were well known by 1905, and as he was seeking entry through a direct commission, an application process would have existed, rather than simply joining.

His first assignment as a Marine was in the Philippines.  He first saw action in 1916 in the Dominican Republic.  He was deployed to France in World War One in June 1917.  He was awarded the Purple Heart for service in the Great War, for merit, something that was not done after World War One.  During World War Two, he became instrumental in training both Marine and Army units in amphibious operations.

Smith, during World War Two, tended not to plan for disengagement of his forces once they were committed, something the Army regarded as foolhardy but which reflected the reality of amphibious operations.  The "no plan for retreat" ethos, however, crept into the Marine Corps as a result, and was evidenced in it long after.

He retired in 1946, and lived until 1967, dying at age 84.  His wife had already passed, but he was survived by a son, Rear Admiral John V. Smith, a 1934 Naval Academy graduate.

Sarah Sundin's entry on this event:

Today in World War II History—January 31, 1944: US Army and Marines land on Kwajalein & Majuro in the Marshall Islands, with the first use of the DUKW amphibious vehicle in the Pacific .

The Allies took Majuro in the Marshall's.

U.S. ships at Majuro.

The landing force had expected opposition, but the Japanese had withdrawn to Kwajalein and Eniwetok, leaving a single warrant officer as a caretaker in what must have been an anxiety filled roll.  He was captured, and along with him, one of the largest anchorages in the Pacific. 

The U-592 was sunk by three Royal Navy sloops. All hands were lost.

Wednesday, January 12, 1944. Churchill and De Gaulle meet.

Bombing of Japanese merchant ships at Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands by VB-108, January 12, 1944. 

De Gaulle and Churchill met in Marrakesh.

The US Army's 34th Infantry Division took Cervaro.

The Red Army's 13th Army took Sarny, then properly a part of Poland.

Seventy-four members of the Solf Circle, a group of anti-Nazi intellectuals, were arrested.

Wednesday, December 8, 1943. Kalavryta

German General Karl von Le Suire, commander of the German  XXXXIX Mountain Corps, ordered the burning of the Greek city of Kalavryta and the execution of its male population in reprisal for the execution of 80 German prisoners of war by partisans.  They would ultimately kill 58 men and boys in Rogoi, and 37 in Kerpini.  At Mega Spilaio they murdered 22 monks and visitors.

Von Le Suire would surrender his command to the Soviets at the end of the war, and he would die in their captivity in 1954 at age 55.

The Battle of San Pietro Infine commenced with Italians fighting alongside the Allies.

On the same day Free French troops, some of whom were North African, began to be introduced to the fighting in Italy while veterans American and British units started to be withdrawn in order to be used in Overlord.

President Roosevelt visited Malta.

The Australians prevailed in the Battle of Wareo.

The U.S. Navy bombed Kwajalein 

Legendary rock music artist Jim Morrison was born in Melbourne, Florida.

Talented but deeply personally troubled and an alcoholic, Morrison's father was a Navy officer who would rise to the rank of Admiral.

Saturday, December 4, 1943. End of the WPA.

No longer needed, the Works Progress Administration came to an end.

Coming in an era of desperation, when Americans turned to the government instead of reviling it, many great projects were built by the WPA during its eight-year run.

The number of projects built in Wyoming alone is stunning. Every community has some, some of which they're so used to, that they were government projects is hardly recalled.

What is amazing, however, is that it took until 1943 for the Government to conclude that unemployment was now low enough to do away with the program.

The British 8th Army commenced the Moro River Campaign in Italy.

Yugoslav partisans, just recognized as a legitimate fighting force by the Allies, formed a provisional democratic Yugoslav government in exile with Communist lawyer Ivan Ribar appointed as head of state to serve at the war's end.  An existing government in exile under King Peter already was functioning in the United Kingdom, but clear its days were coming to an end.

The Bolivian Congress ratified President Enrique Peñaranda's declaration of war against the Axis powers, which had occured six months earlier.

Seventy percent of wholesale and retail merchants in Bolivia were German operated, and this had resulted in fears that the declaration would create economic unrest.  It did not, but it did lead to his overthrow.  The Congress followed through nonetheless.  Given the stretch of colonial empires, this meant that at this point in time a mere nine independent nations were not committed to one of the two warring sides.

Truly a world war.

The Japanese escort carrier Chūyō was sunk in the Pacific by the submarine USS Sailfish.

The USS Lexington was hit by an airborne torpedo off of the Gilberts just after midnight, resulting in "Tokyo Rose" reporting her sunk. The ship was damaged, but far from sunk.  Repeated erroneous Japanese reports of her having been sunk lead to her being nicknamed "The Blue Ghost".  She had been leaving for Kwajalein where a major U.S. Navy strike occured on this day.